Love, Fear and Transmutation
by asteroidpie
Summary: Ed and Al have succeeded in getting Al's body back. Things in Amestris are orderly and peaceful... until a certain incident. How do Edward and Alphonse handle a new challenge they must face, as well as a stubborn girl?
1. Intro

**Hi! I kind of gave up on my other story for now... it just didn't seem to flow properly. This one, however, has a lot of potential (i think) and might get a little more fan love... hopefully D:**

**I do not own any aspect of Full Metal Alchemist.**

* * *

Tonight's the night. There couldn't be a more perfect opportunity. Everything about what I'm about to do is according to the plan, with not so much as one tiny miscalculation sticking out of the perfection I'm calling... operation B. You may ask why I hadn't called it operation, A, or alpha, or some such synonym to a first phase or plan. You may also wonder what I'm planning, why, how, where and when it shall take place. Truth is, you'll figure it out soon enough. I won't spoil the suprise for you, or anything like that.

Thing is, I've already come close to both failing and becoming very much caught, and very much dead. Thing is, I'm searching for something. Not a solid object, or a group of objects, or anything actually physically tangible. You see, I'm looking for a theory. It most likely sounds slightly queer that a girl of my age, sixteen and three quarters, blond jokes aside and such, would be looking for something as complicated as an alchemical theory. 'Where are your parents?' 'Why are you looking for something as complicated as _that_ theory?' 'Could you even handle it?' The doubting Thomasses in my mind continually ask me these questions, so perhaps you may asking them too. Which is completely okay. It's human nature to doubt. Of course, it's also human nature to desire the truth.

I desire the truth.

The only answer I could truthfully give sans risking the succession of the operation I'm about to carry out is that I have quite a guilty conscience... not to mention a strong sense of perseverance and persistence. And, of course, clearing that guilty conscience currently carries first priority in my life, so I can uncompromise another. It's quite important that I succeed: if I fail, I'd be letting down countless people that are most likely counting on yours truly. You could call me your friendly neighborhood 'up-and-coming' hero, but I'll spare you of such pompous suggestions. The only thing that matters enough to converse of is the fact that this is my story. And that story begins now.

I more than desire the truth. I crave it.

* * *

A military officer stood sleepily in front of a large bronze gate along with another officer. Both were well equipped with highest quality assault rifles and 9mm handgun safely resting inside the breast of their blue military uniforms. Any one passerby would guess that It wasn't so easy to simply waltz in through those gates and onto what they had been fencing off. The fence and the guarding officers kept a certain military database well more than safe during the early afterhours of the night. It seemed to the officers that all was well and that it was soon time to shift positions with waiting fresh officers.

That was the moment an observing figure had been counting on since the first instants of nightfall. 'Safe in the shadows', as the figure had always been taught, they performed exactly as so. It was the ultimate performance. Tonight was the night. The night that the ultimate information, the forbidden theory, would be obtained. It all seemed so clear: Dash out once no guarding eyes laid eyes on the establishment, and sneak through the thicket to the only destination thought of by the figure for months on end.

The figure clad in black gulped and shuddered, anticipating the excitement that began to flow throughout their body. The figure, clad in tight, movement-permitting black clothing, stretched out their petite frame. Their head stretched upward last, precedented by arms reaching high up toward the tops of the buildings it hid in between, as well as slender legs that possessed small, nible feet. Nearly every inch of the hidden entity had been covered with black clothing, save for eyes and a short lock of light blonde hair that stuck out.

Her eyes had always been a trait of hers that had made others feel rather unsettled. Sixteen years of ignorance and disapproval towards her had sculpted her into a hard human being, but it had well suited her life; alone was her life and never once had she complained. She had come to accept the wary glances, the curious and confused looks... even insults had socially hardened her into building a shell against the reality outside. It mattered to have been thought of as a freak at some point in her life yet those times had long since gone past and perished. What mattered the most at this point was the mission she had so carefully planned.

"Dahlia, just you wait. I'll show you what I can really do."

The figure darted out of the shadows, avoiding the glare of nearby streetlights as she found that the two guards had retreated into the building to switch shifts. Lunging forward in an almost animal manner she pounced toward the ground, arms out in front of her. Propelling herself upward and with a flip towards the fence, she easily and soundlessly cleared the high obstacle in her path. She cushioned her landing with a quick somersault towards a shore of darkness away from the front lights, and continued quickly and cautiously towards the left side of the building. As soon as she was sure that it was as if she did not exist on the property, she slouched against the wall and sighed in victory.

'Score.'

She closed her eyes for a moment to regain her composure. Opening them she exhaled slowly, regaining her focus. 'It'll only be harder from here on out. Gotta stay nimble...' And with that thought, she set off once again.

For several days prior to the mission, she had spent many hours carefully calculating the easiest and most sheltered access into the database from above. To her dismay, the building was sound and there were no external access point through ventilation or windows. Lucky for her, she possessed a keen ability: Alchemy. Dahlia had taught her the basics throughout her childhood, which she built upon endlessly throughout her preteen to teen years to perfect her own style. She had liked to set herself aside from the average alchemist. Not in a gloating, prideful way but in a way that she had truly recognized her unique talent: her speed and ability to transmute without physically coming in direct contact with the material transmuted. It had never occurred to her to wonder how she was able to perform in the manner she did, but simply dismissed it as a privilege of the things she'd seen and of her encounter she had overcome.

She had wished so much that Dahlia could see the extent and the fruits of both hers and her own efforts. She wished she was with her, and then shook her head. Now was not the time to dwell on sore feelings from the past. Her gaze becoming once again, focused, she began to think of the best way to proceed.

Her body froze, immobile, when she heard small chatter coming from the font area of the building. 'The guards have switched...' she thought carefully for a moment, calculating their positions from the amount of footsteps they had taken. 'Right.'

'Four...Five...Six...Seven. Here we are, just toss this across...' she thought to herself as she pulled out a transmuted item from her pocket and stuck a smaller emblem-like object onto it.

With a smirk barely noticeable under her black cloth mask, she skillfully threw the object over top of the seemingly one story building at her back. Taking note of when it landed, she pressed her hands together to initiate the reaction. She felt the energy surge underneath her into her body, and the all too familiar alchemical toll rang through the area. She heard the guards 'huh?' in confusion as stiff blue wisps of alchemical energy surged out of the ground and around the object she had thrown. The object had significantly changed in shape and size into an identical dirt dummy of herself, crouched over as if it had been plotting something. The curious guards ventured over, shouting to one and another that they had found her.

The girl smiled inwardly as she heard them cry out in fear. '...And then we're laughin'. Bingo.'

The guards had fallen into a trap that surrounded the dummy, unable to get out. Using this as her chance to use alchemy of her own, she clapped once again and this time pressed her hands against the ground. The ground began to glow in the area she had specified, and then began to rise up as if it had been extruded outward. The ground she had extracted snaked up against the wall before her, spreading out and turning into vines of various species that clung to the building. As she extracted more of the ground, the vines began to overgrow and cover all of the windows and openings of the exterior of the building. She could only imagine various officials' reactions, their minds puzzled at the bizarre phenomenon at hand.

Soon the entire building had been covered in her hand-crafted vines, which began to bloom occasional blue-green flowers the size of a grown man's head. The vines snaked towards the power cords supplying power to the database and easily crushed them, along with the lights granting vision to the officers and workers both inside and out. The area which she extracted the ground from had turned into a hole, set with a ladder. She grinned once again, realizing that she had actually come this far.

'Now's my chance!' She quickly jumped into the hole, grabbing onto the ladder for security as she used it to slide to the bottom. Once she touched ground, she realized she was in the database itself. 'Just my bloody luck...' She gulped, not having planned the excavation properly. With a quick shake of her head she snapped out of her fear. Now was not the time for memories nor fear. Luckily for her, the lights had been successfully put out, save for the emergency power. The area glowed a faint red, which she thought suitable for its dark kept secrets hidden within. As soon as she decided it was safe to act, she nimbly and silently wove in and out of the various bookcases.

She knew exactly what she had been looking for, down to the specific section it lay in rest. Document manuscript 316. As soon as she reached the sector in which it was located, she rushed to the shelf where it could be found. Quickly spotting and taking it off the shelf, she turned to leave in the manner she entered. Halfway across the path she took weaving around the bookcases, the emergency lights flickered, and then fell dead. She gasped, startled, and continued on with extreme caution. She could hear shouting from far off in the lower areas which she was trying to escape from. Her heart rate began to quicken and her nerves began running in overdrive.

'Just a little farther...'

"Hey! You!" she heard a voice cry out in her direction. She barely evaded the beam of light from a flashlight and hid behind a nearby shelf. 'Damnit!' she cursed to herself silently and saw that the light had turned to the left of her vision toward the opposite direction of her escape route.

"We know you're in here! Surrender immediately; you're in our playing field now!" Exhaling quickly she dashed across the corridor-like space between the shelves and towards the area of the hole she dug.

"I said freeze!"

Had she been any slower to react, the bullets that barely grazed her left cheek and arm would have been fatal. She froze in shock for a total of two seconds, which was enough for one of the flashlights to come upon her figure. As soon as it had made contact with her body, she darted out of the way and transmuted a pillar to lift her up to the hole. The pillar sealed the hole up and took the form of a regular underground support beam.

Three military officers, equipped with guns and a flashlight each, stared at the stone beam in confusion. "What the..." one mumbled, while another got closer to examine the beam. His eyes widened in suprise.

"Transmutation marks..."

* * *

The girl, nearly out of breath half out of the tension she had just faced and half out of the effort, placed her hands on her knees in attempt to regain her breath and a normal pulse. She looked to and fro, and found that nobody from inside had been able to break through the thick layers of vine she had encompassed the area with. With a sigh of relief and of almost victory she got back up to her feet. Remembering her prize, she quickly rolled the stapled papers up and transmuted a string-like attachment holding it onto her ninja-like sash. Taking one last breath of peace she readied herself for her daring escape.

"Brother! I found him!"

She heard a boyish voice call towards her from around the building. She'd been spotted...again. The figure that the voice had belonged to was onto her and barely turned the corner before she took a momentous leap over the fence in a similar fashion as when she had entered. She swiftly landed on the street outside the fences and thicket and stood up slowly, her arms and legs shaking with nerves.

'All this excitement's making my body protest... Just a little longer!'

She heard a familiar sound and felt a pulse she did not expect to feel. Two transmutations occurred as what she guessed to be a means to jump over the fence.

"There she is!" the same voice called out behind her, which was followed by two pairs of footsteps.

"Right! Hey you! Ninja thing! Get back here!" a more mature voice called out and she sensed a mixed hint of both leadership and complete annoyance. She had been pressing their nerves.

She turned around, getting back up at lightning speed to her feet to get a glimpse of their features. Two boys, one was taller than the other. The shorter boy had long hair in a ponytail and wore a dark trench coat with dark slacks and simple spats. The taller boy had short blonde side-swept hair, with a white dress shirt, brown slacks, suspenders and simple dress shoes. Judging by their appearances she could pick their strategies apart: the taller thought more before he acted, like her, and the shorter acted more on impulses. She also assumed they had been brothers due to the way they had looked so alike. Giving them a daring look she darted off in front of them, turning quick into an alleyway.

"Quick! Follow him!" The shorter yelled and the taller ran ahead, clearly possessing longer legs to cover more distance. She ran with great speed around dumpsters and exited into a new street adjacent to the last. Looking back to see if she had lost them yet, she was gracefully brought back to reality when the taller boy was hot on her trail, merely a few meters behind her.

"Hmph!" she grunted and lunged forward towards the ground and clapped before her hands touched the ground. An alchemical reaction toned in the air, blue wisps of energy lashing about as she sprung off of her hands, flipping onto freshly transmuted stairs.

The boy gasped. "Woah, no array?"

Skipping steps to reach the top of a building, she clapped once again to cause the stairs to crumble. As soon as they did, the boy cried out in suprise. She turned back to grimace at him teasingly, but as soon as she reached the edge a tower of pavement rose up above her at an amazing speed. The boy lept off it as it crumbled and landed in front of her. Before she had time to run back the way she came the other brother shot up with a tower of his own, rising and landing in the same fashion as his taller brother.

The shorter brother chuckled as she looked back towards him, the taller transmuting a wall of stone around the three of them.

"There's nowhere else to run. Give us back the document you stole," the brother demanded rather seriously while the taller brother moved closer to her, "or we'll have to take it back by force."

The girl did not say anything in return. Instead, she formed a triangle formation with them as the other two edges, facing them both in a battle stance.

The taller brother sighed. "They never come quietly, brother."

"That's fine by me!" The shorter boy clapped, pressing one hand down onto the ground and gradually lifted it up to reveal the formation of a steel spear he clearly designed himself. She smirked at the fact that they could perform alchemy like she could. 'Things just got a little more interesting.'

"Right!" The taller boy copied his brother's transmutation, except he merely hovered one hand covering the other above the ground, causing a steel pole to transmute from the ground. Both gripping their fresh weapons, they pointed both toward her.

"My turn, then," the cloaked girl announced, quickly clapping and then dropping both hands to her sides. Her right hand remained open as a rapier-sword hybrid decorated with rose motifs on the end of the hand guard, which consisted of many metallic swirls carved around the hilt. With her other hand ready, she bent down to grab a small rapier-like dagger to hold as defense. She calmly grabbed the sword as well, pointing it in a slightly lowered fashion front of her and towards them both.

The taller challenger smirked at her sense of fighting style. He turned to his brother who was shocked at the fact that she did not require the use of a transmutation circle like them. He clenched his teeth in what she almost thought to be disgust, and... empathy?

"This might be harder than we thought, brother." the tall boy's remark was answered with a small "hah".

"I can see what you mean. Al, cover me!" the smaller boy lunged forward at great speed, quickly closing in the gap between him and the girl. With a quick swing of his spear, he lead the first move. The girl blocked his spear with the dagger with relative ease, and attempted to stab him in the side with the rapier. He dodged, retracting the spear. She made the dagger drag across the spear to emit a shrieking metal sound that caused him to flinch. He barely missed her slicing motion with her rapier which tore part of his trench coat.

"Damn it!" he cursed, darting towards and then around to her side in attempt to confuse her. She scoffed and quickly spun to her left to successfully block his next attack: a stabbing motion. She was about to kick his spear to the side for an opening before who she assumed to be "Al" dashed forward and tried to trip her with the pole. Between the two of them, she held down both of their weapons with each of her own and kicked the shorter brother in the jaw, sending him flying backwards, and the taller in the gut, causing him to stumble backwards.

"Yaagh!" "Oof!" The two boys were severely caught off guard, and glared upwards towards her. She watched as the taller one got up to retrieve his weapon. The younger did the same, and she frowned. She held her rapier straight out towards Al, and held the shorter dagger above herself, also pointing towards him.

He glared into her eyes. 'She doesn't intend to use her weapons directly. What's her story...?' He was pulled out of his trance by his brother's voice.

"Al, remember what we practiced before!" Al gave a quick nod towards him and once again faced the girl.

Sensing that they were up to something, they both stood in their separate stances almost as if they were waiting for her to attack. She barely pushed forward when her head thrusted forward, causing her lose balance. Her eyes wide in shock and panic.

"Wh..what..?"

Her body went limp and she fell to her knees. Her vision faded to black, along with her consciousness.


	2. A cornucopia of feelings

_The wind above the hills kisses and caresses my face while I walk with teacher to the area we usually practice alchemy and combat together._

My teacher would always tie her black, wavy hair up into a bun, and I did too. She told me it was to keep the hair out of our way during our training. She was always so cool and focused, but I always knew that she loved me and cared for me, no matter what had happened or what I might have done. She was understanding in even the most unknown times, where I could not think of how to pull myself together no matter how hard I tried to calm down. I don't know how I could have managed without her in my early years since I always remember her to be there. Always caring for me and always teaching me, I never knew fear when I was around her.

_I laugh to myself and she looks back at me. Of course, she smiles too._

We never really spoke to each other while we traveled. She always stressed that silence was almost like a resting time for your awake mind between training. During this silence, I always thought of new ways to impress her and show her how much I've learned. She always wanted me to think of what good I could do with what she had taught me, and not just about the material itself. Doing something positive towards the greater good, no matter how small, meant the world to her.

_She takes my hand and I follow her. To the spot where we train; Our secret spot._

Every day we went to that same spot, and we really enjoyed ourselves. Every lesson was followed by a really interesting example of what was taught. I'd try and get every lesson perfect the first time, but usually that wasn't actually the result. I'd cry sometimes because I wasn't satisfied with the result in front of us. Sometimes I'd even get frustrated and angry, and announce that I'd give up. That's when she would get strict and angry with me, and smack me out of it. She never wanted to hear those words. She always told me to never give up, and would compare it like this:

_"What would happen if the Sun gave up on burning? The sun would die out, and we would live in darkness until we, too, died off. Everyone would just give up, since their guardian had disappeared."_

It would have been morbid, saddening, and even incomprehensible to the average 3 to 8 year old, but not to me. It made sense to me, even at my youngest years with her. I would swallow up my frustration and try again until it worked. She always told me to make sure that the lessons made perfect sense to me before I pursued perfection, like the way I had so many times right off the bat.

_I listen to her lessons with a soft, innocent smile. I take a lock of my hair and start to fiddle with it until she tells me to concentrate._

As the weeks turned into months, and the months into years, I held so much alchemical information in my head. I was able to draw quick, simple arrays with ease and transmute nearly identical sculptures in seconds. She taught me how to fix different objects, like radios, phones, and even cars. That's what interested me the most: as long as you understood where everything was supposed to be in an object, and had a clear indication in your mind, you could transmute that idea into reality. She inspired me to think of my own style when performing alchemy, and helped me build my own idea of what alchemy is. I feel like I helped her realize lots of things, too. She always told me I had a knack for saying the right thing at the right time.

_She takes my shoulders and tells me that she's finally ready. I smile but I wonder what she means._

Later in my training, she had cancelled many upon many of our outings to our secret place. I would ask her why, but she would always say the same thing.

_"My child, you'll be amazed at what I've discovered soon enough. I'm almost ready. You'll have a new friend to play and practice with."_

_"A friend? Really?"_

_"Yes, my girl. Someone your own size that you can play and practice with."_

That Excited me. Another student? I was always her only student. It excited me so much. But I was taught to be patient, and so I had never felt the need to ask her about the new playmate again. I felt that her words were true. When she felt I was ready, I always thought, she will show me.

_"I hope it's another girl, as pretty as you, Teacher." She simply gave me a smile, and a ruffling of my long light blonde hair. I grinned widely and ran off into the fields of tall grass._

I wanted to bring her some flowers that I had transmuted with my own style of alchemy. I was so proud that she didn't have to teach me. I figured out the concept of bio-alchemy and was so proud of myself. I couldn't stand to wait to tell and show her of what I had accomplished. All of those days spent worrying that I'd never become a successful alchemist were over. She would have been so proud. I ran to her study to show her. Except, that would never be the case.

_"Teacher Dahlia? Teacher? Dahlia...Da-"_

I had never seen something as terrifying and horribly painful. I wanted her back. I wanted Teacher.

I wanted Mom back.

* * *

The blonde-haired girl gasped awake, holding her chest in confusion and fear. Tears streamed down her face as she regained consciousness, panting. She observed the scenery before her, which wasn't much: She had a cot suspended by chains to the wall, a toilet, a sink and a mirror. To her right of the small room were wrought iron bars, locked tightly shut. Her face had shown fear and panic when she had realized the circumstances of her actions.

She had clearly been caught, or so it seemed. Her eyes narrowed and her nose twitched in confusion as she found that her black mask had been missing. Her eyes then widened.

"They know what I look like..." her head the slumped forward.

"Great."she mumbled, defeated. She looked down to her hands, which had been snugly held between two pieces of wood. She glared at the contraption. It kept her from using alchemy, which at the time, sucked more ass than the condition the cell was in. After sighing and trying to remember how she had been caught, she arose. She began to walk over to the iron bars that held her captive.

Her inmates weren't exactly inviting. She tried to tune them out and fall into a helpless trance, but could sometimes overhear "hey girlie, come over here and I'll give you what any smart girl wants", or something along the lines of "I'll show you a good time baby". They made her sick to her stomach, although most of the human race did once she thought about it. She grabbed the bars desperately, telepathically calling for help.

Freakily on cue, she heard a metal door unlock many times and drag open, followed by footsteps of at least three grown men. She retreated to her seated position on the cot, hoping they weren't looking for her. She wanted a saviour, not a stern talking-to or something for getting the inmates all wired up. Not that it was her fault or anything. All she had done was walk up to the bars and wish that someone would come and save her.

"Miss Anonymous," she snapped out of her thoughts, "You've been summoned. Please come with me." She stared blankly at the warden and the two men behind him, and took in what he had to say. They were letting her out, perhaps? She studied their appearance. All three of them wore a blue military uniform, much like the officers guarding the database-

'They CAUGHT me!' she gasped at the fact that she had really been caught, and wished she could cross her arms to emphasize how she felt. The warden opened her jail cell, and her mood quickly changed. The two other men came in and lifted her up as if she couldn't move. She shoved them off and gave them a look that clearly said 'back off'.

"I think I can stand up on my own, thanks."

"Just hurry along. We won't want to keep him waiting. The Fuhrer is a busy man, you know." The warden growled, sparking her interest. She followed closely behind him, and in front of the two other men.

'The Fuhrer himself? I guess they really liked that library...' She then began to imagine all of the possible outcomes of her little 'meeting' with the Fuhrer. Jail time, or worse, death. She gulped fearfully.

The three officials had lead her down countless hallways and up countless flights of stairs. She tried to imagine how big this place was, and how much time it took to built. The corridors seemed to never end as she walked down them with her 'escorts', and she grew tired of the same scenery over and over very quickly. Perhaps it was just her excitement to see the ruler of Amestris himself that was overriding her usual patient composure. After what had seemed like hours of walking in a straight line, they had reached the outside air. Her eyes rushed upward to the open sky, smiling genuinely. 'Freedom!'

The warden caught a glimpse of her excitement. "Don't get too excited yet. Let's go, 'freaky eyes'."

For some reason, the comment had made her flinch. She tossed her glance down to the ground to the right of her, staring at the cross between the sidewalk and the street. If she was going to be held captive as a prisoner, she guessed that she would be treated like one, too. As they turned the corner, she refused to look up as she followed along until she noticed that they suddenly began to climb a flight of sheltered stairs. Without looking upward again, she raised her voice.

"Where are we?"

"We're still in Central Command. Like I said, we're going to have you pay a little visit to the Fuhrer."

She exhaled from her nose. "Mm" was all she really had to say.

As they climbed the stairs, she finally began to feel as if she was truly in trouble. As if there were consequences for her actions. As if there were consequences for trying to save a life. She glared at the back of the warden. What did they know about _her_ circumstances? She came to the conclusion that since she was a prisoner, and of course, arrested, they would not think twice about mixing her in with the rest of those inmates. After a few more minutes of walking up stairs and down halls, they all reached a set of tall wooden doors.

"This is where we drop you off. Go in," he ordered, "and you better hold any bit of tongue you may have saved up along the way." She gave him a dirty look, and he simply gave her one that said 'you'll be sorry'.

Turning, scoffing, she went to open the doors but realized it would be hard with the awkward handcuffs she had been wearing. Turning around once again to ask for them off, they were already halfway down the hallway in this maze they called Central Command. Huffing frustratingly, she tried to open the door, ignoring her awkward position. After a moment's effort, she managed to move it open, and walked inside not knowing what to expect.

As soon as she set foot into the room, hands cuffed and still dressed in her black gear, the conversation between various military officials and a secretary to the left had ceased. The secretary eyed her up, and surmised that she was the prisoner to be questioned.

"Miss, you should be headed right in those doors ahead of you," she began, pointing with her pen to the wooden doors at the end of the office, equally as large as the ones she just entered through, "and I'd advise you to-"

"-hold my tongue, don;t stare him in the eyes, and don't speak unless asked." the girl casually finished for the secretary, who simply returned to her work and kept pointing at the door. The girl hobbled along, handcuffs and all, across the room and to the doors in front of her. Once again awkwardly opening another set of doors, she entered, now truly not knowing what to expect of the Fuhrer that had so kindly summoned her. 'Here goes...'

The room was extremely spacious and silent, unlike the room she had set foot in beforehand. At each side of the room were shelves lined with books, files and important documents. In the center was a table and chairs, two sofas facing each other with a coffee table in between them, and at the end... a mahogany desk. She gulped as she met eyes with who she expected to be the Fuhrer, and immediately she broke the would-be staring contest between them. He motioned to her to come towards the desk he sat at, so she did exactly as she was told. This wasn't like her to be so stiff and controlled, but she felt quite intimidated by the presence of the man before her.

"So, you're who's caused all that damage and distress down at our 2nd district database library, am I correct?" he asked with a dark, deep voice. She felt through his voice that he had seen a lot in his life.

Glancing to the right, looking down, she simply game him a small "Yes."

"Hm," he began, linking his hands together in front of his face, "the document you attempted to steal... do you realize the importance of such a document to be kept under such tight security?"

She kept hard her stare to the floor, and gave a simple nod. She could sense his mood take a turn for a more serious one than before.

"Do you truly realize the importance of protecting it?" She gave another small "Yes". He exhaled slowly.

"Let's approach this... differently. Do you understand the penalty for one, breaking into military property, two, sabotaging access to and from military facilities, and three, stealing a top-secret document that could potentially jeopardize this country?"

She did not answer, as she did not know what to say to best avoid more trouble. Why was he talking to her directly, to some delinquent thief like her? He was treating her like a child through the way he spoke to her, and she hated it.

"If I was smart and true to the laws of Amestris, you should be locked up for life." Her eyes widened. That was definitely not good.

"But... To be frank, I'm curious as to why you'd need such a document." She clenched her teeth and looked upward towards the wall beside the window behind him.

"I'm even going to go so far against the rules as to treat you like a guilt-free citizen," he continued, and this had pained her pride ever so much, "your name?"

She looked once again down to the side, shifting her shackles. She had only wanted information. Why was everything needed to accomplish for something worth knowing always so hard?

"Sadie... Sadie Brisbane, sir." he smirked at her sudden turn for the meek side. This guy gave him the creeps.

"Alright, Sadie," he made her name flow off his tongue disgustingly, "why did you try and steal that document?"

"I need to undo something that I've caused to happen," she answered quietly, "but now it does not matter since I'm going to be-"

He abruptly cut her off, holding out his hand as a signal to stop. "You wouldn't be talking about human transmutation, would you?"

Her clenched teeth turned into a full-out grimace. She looked off to the other side of the room, unshed tears welling up around her eyes.

"I am." Silence filled the room for a few moments until the Fuhrer rose from his seat, facing the window. His back turned to her, he exhaled almost nostalgically.

"This story starts to get old by the time you've heard as much as I have about it," she was about to speak but he turned around, "It's the ultimate taboo. Yet, you still pursue it. Do you not understand that it is not absolute?"

She looked downward, her shoulders raising. Her small bangs covered her eyes even more than before.

"No matter what, once a person is dead you can't bring them back. No matter what relation you have to them."

"Mustang..."

She heard a familiar boyish voice try to stop the Fuhrer from saying anything more. She had not realized that the two boys from the previous night had been listening in from the other side of the room near the doors.

He stood in front of the desk and placed his hands down onto the desk. "I saw how you performed your alchemy a few days before before I had knocked you out,"

Tears rolled down her face. It was him that knocked her out cold for that long. What has she delved into?

"I think she's realized the importance-"

"Edward, Alphonse." He looked ahead of her to their faces, which were full of empathy and guilt of their own, to silence their tongues. He continued what he was trying to prove.

"Sadie, I had seen how you performed alchemy. It was like the alchemy of the brothers Elric behind you, wasn't it?"

The girl remained still, yet up close you could see that she began to tremble. Fuhrer Mustang's fist pounded the desk in frustration. It jolted all three teens in the room.

"You've seen the truth. You know of the equivalent exchange for an impossible transmutation like that. Don't you?"

Sadie had had enough of this infernal torment. Her bloodshot eyes shot up at the Fuhrer in ultimate anger, frustration and sorrow.

"You don't think I know what happens to those trying to produce an artificial human life?" she took a step back, her hands so clenched that her knuckles were as white as light. THe two boys were shocked at her outburst but Mustang stood his ground, almost wanting her to lash out at him.

"I want to undo the fact that I caused my...someone I loved dearly to perform such a beastly act! I inspired her to create with the devil's transmutation," she paused, "I need to pay her back! I need to bring her life back, because I owe it to her-"

"That's a foolish and childish way to think."

Both of the boys eyes widened at the situation at hand. She reminded them so much of themselves, in a way. Desperate to get a loved one back, even if it meant sacrificing part of yourself to accomplish it. The only difference between them and her... was that she both knew and accepted the consequences, where they had not known the consequences.

Sadie's tears kept falling down her cheeks, her lip bit at a lack of what to say. She fell to her knees.

"You have no idea how it felt to..." Mustang grunted.

"To what, Brisbane?"

Her vocal chords could not formulate the words she mouthed. She choked up words instead, and after a moment of silence got back up. After a couple more, she gave a long bated breath.

"It was my fault that she had done it. It made sense at the time to bring her back, no matter what the consequences," she began, not afraid of him looking into her eyes, "I knew that I was going to lose something, be it my leg, my arm, my heart..."

Edward's throat began to choke up silently. 'I said those exact same words...'

"...It didn't matter to me what was going to be taken away. To live with such guilt and conviction on your shoulders is to feel like you've truly let someone down in the ultimate fashion."

She locked eyes with Mustang, showing him her true pain and frustration through her angry, determined eyes. He was taken aback for the slightest moment by her eyes, but regained his superior composure.

The Fuhrer gave out a long exhale, like the one from before. He turned up to her with a slight smirk. She was baffled at how he must have found the situation funny, or at least amusing.

"How would you like to become a state alchemist?"

The opportunity he had just presented in front of her, a convict, did not quite register right away. Her eyes remained locked, but held more shock than anything from before. Was this a joke? Did he find her situation to be comical? She began to severely dislike the ruler of Amestris.

"Or, at least cooperate with us. With me," he suggested an alternative, "it's the least you can do to make up for stealing." He didn't bother to wipe off his cocky smirk, but to emphasize it even more.

All three teens stood stiff and shocked at what the Fuhrer had suggested.


	3. Break ice, not first impressions

**Hi again! Hope you're enjoying the fanfic. I'm on a roll tonight. 3 Chapters in one night! Wow!  
**

**Also, reviews would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to know how everyone likes it.  
**

**Oh, and I do not in any way, shape or form own Full Metal Alchemist.**

* * *

Sadie stared up at the ceiling of what was going to be her bedroom for possibly the next few weeks. Her mind still remained baffled concerning the events of the past few days. From living through each day wondering where to go and what to do, to stealing, getting caught, bring made to feel ashamed, embarrassed and guilty for her decisions and her past... to agreeing to cooperate with the plans of the Fuhrer himself, which meant an income, a purpose, a place to stay, to call home, and-

She sat up, grabbed the pillow from behind her, and screamed into it as hard as she could. Every little aspect of her life had turned upside-down to one large mound of confusion and uncertainty. She was with two boys that tried to attack her. They suddenly had a change of heart at the very last second, and stood up for her in terms of lodging arrangements. Realising something, she stopped her screaming for a moment.

'Hey, it's better than a jail cell, I guess.' Her calm resolve did not last long.

"Ohhh, but I'm a convict! Rooming with weird guys!" This other realisation had caused her to resume her screaming.

Little did she know that both boys she had agreed to room with - not without more than 10 minutes' worth of protest against the thought - overheard her pillow abuse from the mock living room a wall's worth of separation away. Edward sighed.

"I can't believe we have to room with her. She's a thief! And her eyes..." he gave his younger but taller brother a spooky grimace, making his eyes look spooky as well. Alphonse looked away, irritated at his brother's rude nature.

"Ed, that's awfully rude, considering you stuck up for her in the first place."

"Yeah? Well, I sympathized with her. It doesn't mean that she isn't weird!"

"Shut up, brother, she can hear you!" Alphonse spat through a whisper toward his brother in attempt to make him cease his nonsense.

From time to time he truly did not understand his brother's prejudgment on people he didnt't know well enough. Sure, he didn't know her that much at all either, but he had to admit he was impressed by her taste in weapons and her fighting style. Not to mention the whole eye thing was kind of... cool. He immediately tried to concentrate more on her fighting.

'I wonder who taught her how to-'

"It's okay if you find my eyes weird. I get it alot," Sadie shocked both of the Elrics from their seats on the sofas of the living room, "I'm used to it. And it's not like I have nothing to say about you guys." Both boys gave her looks, except Edward's was more rude than Alphonse's, which was more surprised.

"No, no, I don't think they're weird!" Alphonse apologized quickly, hoping she wouldn't dislike him from the start. Ed simply scoffed, stretching his arms across the back of the sofa he sat on.  
"I think they are. How'd you get one blue eye and one green?" Edward asked, followed by a disapproving glare from his younger brother.

"It's a mistake in gene modification. It happened when I was conceived. The two alleles for eyes given to me, green and blue, got mashed up together along the way," she explained to him, sitting down on the floor to the left of the couches clutching the pillow in front of her. "You'd think an alchemist of your caliber would know that."

He snorted. "You're accent's funny, too." Alphonse threw up his arms in complete disbelief, his face clearly displaying his emotions.

"Brother!"

"What? It's true. She doesn't sound like she's from Amestris at all." Sadie glared at him, obviously not impressed with his constant abrasive behavior toward her. She stood up, her hands against her sides and the pillow under her right arm.

"For your information, Edward, I'm an Amestrian citizen. I don't know of my birthplace, however, so if you'd kindly stop being such a jerk I'd greatly appreciate it." With that comment she waltzed towards the door, out of the suite and down the hall, the door slamming shut on her way out.

Alphonse sighed, and got up as well. "Way to go, brother. Now she's mad." Sometimes Ed didn't like how nobody could have fun, especially his brother. Or Sadie, now, for that matter.

"Clearly she can't take any jokes. I was just bugging her."

"Well I didn't think it was very funny. And neither did she, clearly," he imitated his brother and walked towards the door, "and now I'm going to have to try and make her come back!

Goodbye!" Alphonse nagged, closing the door behind him.

Edward slouched his body half-off the couch in a slump. "Nobody's ever any fun around here. Geez, I was just trying to lighten things up. She is weird, anyways, and I don't trust her Al!" He shouted the last part of his sentence loud enough for his brother down the hall.

He heard his brother exhale vocally angrily, and his footsteps sounded a little more forced as he stormed down the hallway after Sadie.

'What am I going to do with him?'

* * *

Sadie sat at a table in the hotel's front lobby near a window. She felt that at many times, 'people watching' had been an excellent way to roll out some of the pent-up anger inside of her. How could someone be so rude to another person they had barely known? And especially after standing up for them? Sadie huffed, her chin supported by her right hand with her arm on the table. Even though she didn't have friends to socialize with or get to know better, she at least knew proper conversation etiquette and manners towards others in general. Looking out towards a large group of people chatting, laughing and goofing off together, her eyes reflected her sadness. She was always different and isolated. Once she had to leave the used-to-be home she once knew, she rarely had a civilized conversation with anyone. There had been countless times where she had tried to avoid conversation with others altogether, at risk of being criticized or made fun of because of her eyes.

She ran her other hand through the side of her short, choppy light blonde hair, which made the layers become even more noticeable. She began to play with the locks of choppy hair that grew down past her collar line on the back of her head. It grew more quickly there, and she wasn't sure why. The hair at the side of her face as well as her bangs grew much more slowly, becoming short side-swept bangs, and choppy locks framing her face. Ever since she had cut her hair so long ago, it never seemed to return to its long, luscious old self. She sighed, and examined countless female passersby's hairdos. Each and every one seemed to look better than hers, she concluded, and ceased touching her hair.

"Sadie," she heard a soft voice call behind her. He sounded rather out of breath. "Come on back. Edward didn't mean what he said."

"I'm okay, Alphonse. I'll come back later," she answered almost immediately, sounding extremely rehearsed. She did not turn her head to face him at risk of him seeing her eyes again.

A moment of silence passed and she noticed he had sat down beside her. She noticed how short she was compared to him. She concluded that she was at least five inches shorter than him. She also noticed he sat a little closer to her than usually comfortable. She realized that she was probably over thinking the situation, and shook out of it.

"Trust me, Sadie. He's not always like that."

She turned to him with a small forced smile. "You know, you're really tall!" she caught him completely off guard. "You must be at least five inches taller than me." she laughed quietly, and then quickly turned back to people watch.

His cheeks turned a very light tinge of pink from her sudden compliment, replied with a small "oh, thanks!" and a nervous chuckle, but he quickly shook it off. He put his hands together on the table beside hers.

"I don't want you to feel like we dislike you. And I don't want you to dislike us," he began, looking toward her as she kept her gaze fixed on the people out the window.

"I don't dislike you guys." Al exhaled, still feeling bad about what his brother had said.

"Musta- er, the Fuhrer likes you. Both of us could tell. That's why he paired-uh, joined you with us, because he values your alchemical skill." Sadie simply nodded and started kicking her feet nervously. She decided not to pursue the topic concerning Fuhrer Mustang, since she did not like him.

Al held a concerned look. 'What's with her? It's like she doesn't like me at all.'

Sadie sighed. "You probably don't know what it's like to be stared at no matter where you go in Amestris." he sighed.

"I actually do." She looked toward him, not making eye contact. "How? There's nothing wrong with you."

"Believe it or not, but I used to be a suit of armor for a while." she grinned a very small grin, trying to imagine him any taller than he already was.

"Really?"

"Yeah, and I used to knock things over all of the time. I used to get some pretty weird looks from people, too. But it was worth it because it saved my life." She simply nodded, as if to show that she understood.

"That must have been quite an adventure, trying to get your body back." Alphonse flashed her a smile.

"It was definitely interesting. We learned a lot."

"I can imagine."

"You're lucky to have a brother like Edward with you. I've never had a family so I imagine it must be quite nice to have company."

He seemed surprised at her sudden compliment to Edward, but then realized that she was never really angry in the first place... Just frustrated at her own circumstances.

"He's a nice guy deep down. He'll get used to you soon, and then you won't have to worry about him saying anything." she didn't answer this time.

She looked back out to the window to keep herself from getting emotional. To tell him the truth would be to say that she was jealous towards the both of them; having a family was a privilege to her. Only the lucky had family. She had Dahlia, but then that... Sadie's face fell. Her eyes fell to her lap, as well as her clenched hands. Alphonse immediately caught on, and placed his hand on her shoulder. This surprised the girl - nobody had done that to her before besides Dahlia. It was genuine kindness. He turned her to face him.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yes." she looked up to him and smiled. Alphonse suddenly got up, pulling her up as well.

"Hey, I bet if I show you around this part of Central, you're bound to feel a little better!" he suggested happily. She blushed ever so slightly. 'What's going on with me? I'm so tight-lipped today...'

"Oh... Well, okay."

"Great! I'll be back down after I let brother know," she nodded and he darted off almost excitedly, "be right back then!"

She watched as he walked briskly toward the staircase to the far left of the lobby, up the stairs and out of sight. As soon as he left the lobby, her knees gave out and she fell down onto her seat at the table. What was coming over her? She had fought against these two brothers in her defense less than a week ago, and already Alphonse warms up to her. She could justify Edward's behaviour towards her since they had temporarily been enemies, but Alphonse... why did she feel so different around him?

* * *

"Whatever, do what you want. I'm not going to be a part of it." Alphonse huffed. His brother was barely like the way he was unless he was severely overtired, which he certainly wasn't.

"I didn't expect you to say that you did. Maybe you could think about being a little nicer to her. Don't you think?"

"I think you're forgetting who the older brother is here. Thanks Al, but I'll decide whether I'll like someone or not. And she's definitely on my 'iffy list'." Al was half hurt by his brother's response.

"Well someone has to be welcoming around here. We'll see you later, I guess." Al gave him a hurt look before turning towards the door once again. Ed got up from his seat on the couch.

"Look, Al, I'm sorry. I just don't-"

"Don't apologise to me. Apologise to her when we get back." And with that, he was once again out the door.

Ed felt partly guilty for how he had been treating the both of them the past few days. Him and his brother were supposed to be friendly and on good terms to each other. Al was certainly trying to do his part, but Ed knew that something was scratching him the wrong way. He just couldn't quite put his finger on it. Could it have been lack of sleep? Most likely. Was he not eating properly? Perhaps. Had it been the lack of training? Absolutely. He shook his head, and then placed his hand over his eyes and forehead, letting it slide down his face. Ed needed to loosen up.

He knew how Alphonse was with girls, and for some reason felt partly jealous of his ability to talk to girls so easily. Even in their childhood days he was able to say nicer things to Winry than he could and even before he could've tried. So, instead he just insulted her since he was frustrated. It wasn't the right way to react, but he was a small kid back then. He sighed. Now he was eighteen, going on nineteen. He'd been growing up all of this time, but in reality, he had to get in better touch with his conversational skills towards girls.

It was settled. He was going to call Winry.

* * *

Sadie had never felt so cheerful and accepted in almost her life. Somehow being with Alphonse lightened up others' first glances toward her, and weren't so judgmental. She felt free to walk where she pleased without the constant pain of worry. Finally, things were looking up. Alphonse had shown her around most of inner Central, telling her of the best places to eat, to shop or just to browse. They shared friendly chatter of their interests, their points of view, different stories to tell. Sadie especially enjoyed hearing of his stories from their journey to get their bodies back.

She had been slightly surprised that he had told her so much about what had happened to him and Ed - she could begin to see why he acted so stressed and rude. Throughout their journey he explained how they kept taking the blame, when she recognized it to be either childlike naivety, or just plain bad luck. It seemed to Sadie that he was actually interested in what she had to say - a rare occurrence to her.

He had told her about their friends and acquaintances around Amestris, including their friends in Resembool: Pinako and Winry. Sadie liked hearing about Winry and her extreme love for automail and all things metallic and greasy. She wondered on a whim if Winry would be so accepting of her, too. Alphonse, as she discovered, had a freaky knack for knowing when she was unsure or wary. He reassured her right away that both Pinako and Winry would gladly welcome her into their home once the two brothers went to visit. Sadie was flattered that already he invited her to travel all the way south with them.

The sun had almost set, and Alphonse had shown her so much about Central. Sadie was extremely grateful that she had her own tour guide around town. Alphonse brought them both over to a bench near a cafe, and she gladly sat down beside him.

"You know, I always thought of Central as a polluted, snooty city, but I have to say that you've shown me otherwise." Sadie smiled towards Alphonse, less afraid of looking him in the eyes by the evening.

"I guess you just learn to look at the nicer things in life after a while..." he was suddenly a tad bit quieter than the rest of the day to Sadie. She immediately dismissed it to fatigue, since she could feel herself slowly getting weary herself.

"I always count my blessings. No matter what, there are always good things about any one person's life." Al had been surprising himself lately; he'd been preaching optimism more than usual.

"I should learn how to do that too, then. Let's see..." Sadie trailed off, opening up her hand to count. Her cheeks turned a shade of pink when Alphonse took a hold of her hand, closing it into a fist.

"Well, you're very talented at Alchemy," he began, lifting her thumb out. She nodded nervously, afraid her hand would get sweaty.

"Mhm, I suppose I am. A-and Mustang went really easily on me a few days ago," she added, and Alphonse nodded with a smile.

He lifted out another finger. "He went more than easy on you," he laughed, "feel very priviledged." She chuckled along, thinking of another blessing.

"Um... I have a solid place to stay now." Alphonse smiled again and lifted out another.

"And a job! You'll help out the Fuhrer with us via your Alchemy." She let out another finger.

"One more." he concluded, looking up to the sky as if it had the last blessing for her. She smiled as she thought of the last blessing.

"That I've met friends like you and Ed," she said to him warmly, "otherwise I'd still be my old, lone self." Alphonse's cheeks turned slightly pink when she said that about him and Ed. He unwrapped her pinky finger and her hand was open. To Sadie it reminded her of an open blossom, full of blessings. Her eyes turned bright with happiness. She then realized that he had been supporting her hand with his from underneath. He noticed as well, and they both retracted their hands to their laps, both blushing significantly.

"Al, I want to show you something. Come with me." she rose from the bench and motioned for him to come with her to where a neatly trimmed tree stood in a cubic patch of grass among others.

"Sure. What is it?"

"I taught myself how to conduct bio alchemy. Watch," she clapped her hands together and pressed them onto the tree. Blue wisps of alchemical energy whipped about as vines began to crawl up the tree and into the green-leaved branches. Throughout the tree, large blue and green blossoms bloomed. She gave the tree her own unique decorative touch.

Al laughed in entertainment. "Wow, Sadie! They're beautiful flowers."

She smiled behind her shoulder and up towards him. As she got up she dusted off her hands. "Thanks."

He gave her a warm smile. "They match your eyes, you know." This comment caused her face to go extremely red, and Al had realised what he had said to her so causally.

"Oh! U-um..." he stammered, waving his hands about. She gave him a smile.

"That was really nice of you, Alphonse." She began to watch her baby blue sleeveless dress billow about in the early evening breeze, kicking her blue flats about. He put her arm around her back and started to head in the direction in which they came.

"We should probably head back." Alphonse thought it would be okay to make her feel as comfortable as possible, so he kept his arm around her upper back. Sadie agreed, and they began to walk back.

She felt quite okay about the fact that Alphonse hadn't moved his arm away for the rest of the walk back.


	4. On the road again

**Since I've had 2 snow days in a row so far (Canada sincerely SUCKS. we had JUST gotten rid of all of the snow), I've been able to relax and write more. Let me know what you think of the plot so far and what you think of Sadie. It would be greatly appreciated!**

**Also, the purpose of so many page breakers is to note the change of a scene, just like in the actual series. Just letting you know!**

**Also, I do not own any aspect of Full Metal Alchemist.**

* * *

Pillows were thrown upwards and blankets tore across the small hotel bedroom once Sadie had realized what time it was the next morning. She had sternly insisted she take the smallest room in their suite, since two brothers would need their own brotherly space, as opposed to her single person. Transmuted clothing flung in all cardinal directions until she had found a proper outfit in her also transmuted suitcase: a white blouse with a brown leather belt at the waist, short hemmed khaki shorts and her most favorite victorian boots of pale pink, white and beige. Her outfit set aside in a matter of seconds, she grabbed a towel waiting for her on a chair and bolted out of her room.

"ED! Come on, pleeease! Get out of the bathroom already, it's almost time to go!" Al's voice sounded distressed towards the locked bathroom door before him.

'Looks like I have a line to wait in,' she smirked as she watched the events play out. The two had definitely been tight knit, but one could surely see that Edward could easily drive his younger brother insane.

"Hold on Al, I'm almost done." Ed's casual, all-mighty tone rang through both of their ears, but it certainly did not amuse either of them.

"Brother, it's been at least twenty minutes! Never mind your hair and let's get on with the day!" Sadie felt like his assumption was absolutely correct. She could almost picture him channeling that one strand of cowlick hair upward and tying his ponytail perfectly, repeating said tasks more than ten times to ensure it was just so.

No answer'd been given back to the younger brother except for a mocking whine of the last sentence he had said towards Ed concerning his hair. Al stomped his foot.

"That's it! I'm coming in." Al gave him no more than that warning as he clapped his hands and placed them over the doorknob, moulding it to stay unlocked. Ed screamed as he barged in and Sadie watched as both himself and his stuff was literally kicked out of the bathroom.

"WHAT THE HELL! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO-"

"No. Now finish getting ready. We have more than one person in this hotel room," was all Al said to him, closing the door and the sound of transmutation could once again be heard as the door handle was returned to normal.

"Unlike you, I'm only going to take 5 minutes," Sadie heard his muffled voice through the door.

On the floor, Ed began to grumble about his brother "being in bad moods in the morning ever since he got his body back". This caused the younger Elric to once again open the door, and positioned forward, about to yell at him once more until both brothers looked towards the female alchemist's doorway. There stood Sadie, tanktop, shorts, towel and all, to be simply watching the fiasco in front of her. She gave them both a disapproving glare, which caused the hair on both of their necks to rise. Her glare and clenched fist seemed reminiscent to both boys of Winry once she had also been similarly angry at them both.

Instead, once she saw their fearful faces, she couldn't help but to burst out laughing. And a lot of laughing came out of her. This caused both Elrics to give each other quick apologizing looks, followed by nervous laughter along with her genuine sort.

Both brothers then shrieked as she clapped her hands with an angry, forced exhale, slamming them onto the floor, causing the floor to ripple about and carpet-trick them both to the end of the hallway.

"STOP SCREWING AROUND YOU TWO! I NEED TO GET WASHED, YOU KNOW!" her voice roared to the Elrics like some kind of feral beast. Whimpering at the end of the hallway, both Elrics watched in horror as she happily skipped toward the washroom, towel and clothing in-hand, gently closing the door shut with a click.

After a few moments of sweet silence for Sadie she was well in the shower, rinsing her choppy blonde hair of any excess shampoo and conditioner. Reaching for her bar of home-made scented soap, she heard a fearful knock on the door.

"Uh, Sadie, m-m'am, I uh..." she heard boyish stammering from the door. She had been already finished before the time he had been finished, himself, and so she had shut off the tap. Ruffling her hair with the towel in an attempt to dry and style it, she quickly dressed herself. She could still hear him stammer nervously despite him being seventeen - almost eighteen - through the door about how he was wondering if she could hurry. She half felt bad for him, since to her Alphonse hadn't exactly been getting a lucky break between her and his brother.

She opened up the door as he had been leaning on it, causing him to stumble slightly forward. "Oh! Oh, uh. Sadie. You're already done," she gave him a nod, and a smile, and with that she hopped off to her room to finish getting ready. Before Alphonse shut the door, he was about to apologize to Sadie when Edward's voice chimed in from the living room area.

"Better hurry up! We have to leave in _five _minutes!"

"EDWARD, CUT IT OUT!" both teens roared, gaining a nervous laugh from the oldest teen.

* * *

Tying a small ice blue pendant with a silver chain around her neck, she smiled slightly towards the situation that had just unfolded. She hadn't really expected the two boys she had heard so much of loyalty, honor, bonding and of trust would have been so argumentative. Tapping her booted foot to some unknown rhythm, she attempted to fix her scruffy hair the best she could into her usual organized mess. Staring at herself in the mirror, especially at her eyes and the way her blonde bangs came down just above them, and thought of what Alphonse had told her the previous evening.

_"They really were beautiful flowers, Sadie." she closed her eyes and smiled._

_"I always thought so. Usually nobody notices them, but I was glad to have been able to show you." _

_"I don't understand why you'd say that. I bet tons of people enjoyed they way they looked. Not just me."_

_"You'd be surprised. They'd enjoy them, until they saw my eyes. It's almost like their opinion had changed on a dime."_

_Alphonse frowned, but temporarily held a tighter grip on her far shoulder. "We'll just have to change that, then." _

_Blushing slightly, she nodded with a small smile toward him. "Yeah."_

Smiling herself, she then looked at the clock, gasping. "Oh dear! Time to go." she took her small transmuted purse and swung it across her shoulder as she darted out of the bedroom to see both brothers ready.

"Let's go then, Alphonse, Sadie," Edward nodded to them both as if to say to follow him.

* * *

As the opened and closed the door, she began to think about the Fuhrer she had seen just a few days ago, and how instead of jailing her and sending her to court, he had scolded her, like some naughty child... and then had offered her a job as one of his personal aides. It baffled her how his opinion of her seemed to had changed on a dime. Even though she had known the perks of affiliating one's self with the military, she still felt she'd been tossed from the frying pan into the fire. For some reason she could not describe, the whole situation did not sit right with her. She had faintly heard of the conspiracies and of the turmoil occurring in the ranks of the military, and of the large-scale explosions of the years past all throughout the city, but never had she heard the whole detailed report. As far as the regular Amestrian citizens such as herself were concerned, the terror had been over. So why would he ask for the help of some humble alchemist who had seen-

Putting aside thoughts she'd rather remained uncovered, Sadie exhaled pensively as the ran through the streets toward Central Command. Recalling the phone call Edward had answered from the big cheese himself, at first he had seemed rather casually rude with him as usual. His tone then took a turn for the more serious and cautious. He answered short yes and no answers from time to time, and then bid his goodbye to hang up afterward. Ever since that phone call he hadn't really talked to Sadie. It wasn't as if she thought this had been a bad thing, however, and dismissed it at the time. As she ran with them, Edward picking up his pace, she could feel the true tension of his actions. Alphonse had treated his brother through conversation a little differently post-return to the hotel, as well. Both Alphonse and Edward were truly bothered in anticipation of their meeting this morning, and she could definitely feel it. Something was definitely up.

She bitterly recalled those few days she had been in central less than three years ago, when she had witnessed that familiar red glow of the waves of alchemical energy. In the past the city had always held a great sense of unrest under her feet, but those days... she had felt it at its worst. She could barely walk the streets on the final day due to such sinister but helpless energy that had crawled up her legs at all hours. Her mind then uncovered the night of the second day: when she had decided to go on a little 'excursion' around Central Command's official buildings. IT had always seemed odd to her that such decrepit, torn town or even crumbled buildings had still held such high priority to guard for all hours of the day. Once she had climbed the walls of each of the buildings she had chosen to explore, her heart wrenched. The energy beneath her writhing, squirming, with a desperate thirst for both salvation, and blood. She snapped back into reality as they reached that same gargantuan sheltered set of stairs.

"This way," Alphonse directed Sadie to follow them. She gave him a nod, as well as one towards Edward, and they all began to climb the staircase before them. Feeling tired of the silence that ensued the three of them on the way to Central Command, she decided to break the silence.

"I've heard that you two are quite close to the Fuhrer," she began, sparking the interest of both boys.

"You can say that, I guess. I'd call it something more on the lines of saving his sorry ass on a weekly basis." Al rolled his eyes at his brother, but couldn't help but to smile a determined smile. This was a different side of Alphonse that Sadie had yet to see.

"We go back a long way. If you think about it, without his help neither brother or I could have come this far."

Edward nodded at his brother's comment reluctantly. Admitting that the cooperation between him and Mustang was at least somewhat helpful was hard for Edward to muster up. Sadie could see this. Reaching the top of the stairs, they ventured to the end of the hallway and reached the doors to the secretary's office.

"I get the impression from him that he's come a long way to get to the position he's at now," Sadie remarked, giving Edward a knowing look.

"That's true," he answered, leading them through the secretary's office, "sometimes I think that he's worked harder than the rest of us." Sadie's look turned into a smirk.

'Interesting.'

"Well, here we are. _Please act on your best behavior and treat his excellency with utmost respect_," he imitated the secretary's words from a moment ago, opening the door. It made Sadie chuckle, but she regained her composure as they entered the large doors leading to the Fuhrer's office.

"Fullmetal, Alphonse, Brisbane. Please take a seat." His excellency's hardened voice carried across the lengthly, status-holding quarters from the round table at which he sat. All three teens nodded, walking in a triangle-formation towards him. Sadie remarked at the fact that by sitting at a table with the three of them, he was treating them as equals. This sparked her interest.

'Just how close are these three?'

"I can imagine, Elric brothers, that you understand why I've called you here. Sadie, you may be able to figure it out soon, too."

Ed's face darkened. "We have unfinished business, don't we, Col- er, Fuhrer." Ed's comment was met with a small nod, and Al's face took a more serious look. Sadie attempted to keep up and try to draw conclusions from the tidbits she knew of, being an average citizen and all.

"Correct. I know the extent of drawing conclusions with you two, so I'll get straight to the point. Sadie, just try and follow along. Rest assured, I imagine the Elrics will be able to enlighten you of your country's true history soon enough." She nodded pensively, glancing toward both brothers, who nodded back. All three turned their attention back to the Fuhrer, who once again began to explain.

"We have reason to believe that what had ended less than three years ago was only the first wave," he began, earning shocked responses from both brothers. Sadie's eyes narrowed, clenching her fists on the table, "and that we've jumped into something more than we've bargained for." Ed's teeth clenched at the sudden news.

"There have been rather attention-grabbing incidents near or directly inside the areas of great bloodshed of years past around the country. Many of the incidents involve not only one person, but several citizens disappearing at one time..."

Al gulped. "People literally disappearing?" Mustang closed his eyes, his chin resting on his hands gravely.

"Yes. Unable to be found. Which has made me think. There's only one explanation that comes to mind..." Ed's eyes flashed.

"A Philosopher's stone." Sadie's eyes widened. 'What...?'

The three men then began to talk of the details, and of which places have been the most active. South area, East area... she swallowed hard as she heard the mention of a certain small town near the eastern front: Astet. Her breathing became shallow, her heart heavy.

'My home.'

"...colonies of citizens in Astet have been declining in the past month. The common denominator in each of these small, off-the-chart regions, sudden disappearance." Sadie grew a grimace.

"What do you mean, just disappeared? Has nobody been able to find anyone?" her voice cracked, unsure, worried. The fuhrer exhaled, lowering his hands.

"Astet seems to be the most disturbed of small towns in the east. I'm sorry to say, since you seem to have great connections with the location... All citizens formerly residing in Astet have disappeared."

Her breath staggered, arms, hands and shoulders shaking. 'Please tell me that we're going to investigate...' Both Ed and Al noticed her reaction to the name of the town and its fate.

"What I want you three to do is to investigate one of these areas, and to report what you can find," he concluded, all heads nodding, "and to speak of this to no one but myself for the time being. If any undeserving ears find out..."

Ed's and Al's eyes turned to the Fuhrer. Sadie's eyes kept staring at the table.

"Understood, sir." Just as they had answered, the large doors behind them all opened and closed gently.

"Your excellency the Fuhrer, sir," a stern female voiced called out to Mustang. The two brothers immediately turned around with a smile.

"Hey, General Hawkeye!" Ed greeted happily to the blonde-haired woman, hair tired in a bun. Her blue military uniform shifted as she walked towards the quartet sitting at the table and she gave a small salute to each of the three teens sitting down. Mustang, however, was not so excited to see her. His serious gaze fell onto her. Sadie felt it was almost skeptical.

'Odd...' his expression then loosened up, giving her his usual smirk.

"General, I was under the impression that you were on sick leave today," he began, examining her, "yet not only do you seem completely fine, you've brought more paperwork for me, it seems."

The general gave him his smirk back, walking over to his side and towards his desk at the end of the room. His gaze followed her every move, and then he turned back to his guests.

"I suppose this is farewell for now. Hawkeye and I have some unfinished business, aka paperwork, to file out." he announced, rising from his seat. In return, the three rose from their seats, as well. The two brothers gave him a stiff salute, Sadie then doing the same.

Turning his back, Mustang paused for a moment as the trio began to leave. "I expect to hear back from you three, pronto." Sadie could feel the tension rising in the room as they kept their leave. They all answered in unison as the walked out the door.

"Sir!"

The trio never heard the slight rumble in the Fuhrer's quarters as they traveled down the stairs.

* * *

Ed's hands fumbled in his pockets as they walked from the military hotel to the train station. Sadie had been silent ever since they had saluted the Fuhrer and had been on their way. Al had tried to get her to speak, but she wouldn't answer him. Ed could see that it pained his brother slightly, but he pulled him aside to tell him to give her some time. Women were like that, usually. Yet he understood her pain and lack of cooperation to speak freely with the two. Astet; he had heard of the town, and of a powerful Alchemist in residence, but their studies never fell upon anything that could have potentially aided them in the regaining of their bodies. The woman in her middle ages had tried to contact the Fuhrer if he could recall correctly, yet once he pried into the situation out of curiosity he was assured it was a false alarm by the higher-ups.

He spat on the ground as he gained vision of the train station in front of them. It never dawned on him to actually physically investigate the town where she lived. Now the town is deserted... What does that mean? His Fuhrer's face flashed in his mind once he spoke of the idea of another Philosopher's Stone trying to be created. No one would be stupid enough to repeat the monstrosities that happened in this country... would they?

Ed was jolted out of his thoughts once they boarded the train. Sadie and Alphonse sat on one bench, while Ed took the parallel. Sadie immediately broke the silence even before Ed could look out the window.

"What's with the automail right arm? I've known it's been there since you both first gave chase to me." He knew that she was both not naive and knew very well it wasn't just some freak accident. He could tell by the look in her eyes - which he did not mind so much anymore. She most likely had seen what they had seen, but to what extent?

"As well as your left leg. Explain."

Al noticed that her tone had become slightly serious and monotone ever since their meeting with the Fuhrer. Astet came up sometimes in his research classes, but only due to its rich bioalchemic origins and several alchemists living in residence. He had delved into the documents containing information on Astet only for bioalchemic and medical purposes after his training with May Chang to sort of contrast and compare.

'So why are we going to investigate disappearances at such a place as Astet?'

"A long time ago, our mother died. We tried to bring her back to life..." Al's head shot up, only to fall once again. They were both ashamed. Sadie simply listened intently, so he continued.

"The cost for failing to bring her back was the loss of my left leg and all of Al's body," he pointed at his prosthetic left leg, "and to attach his soul to this world through a suit of armor, I gave up my right arm," he continued, pointing at his right arm. She nodded, looking at her own hands.

"I'm sorry, for both of you." They simply nodded, accepting her simple condolences.

"I knew the consequences even before I thought about it," she continued on, receiving disturbed looks from her new peers. "A transmutation on such a large scale would be especially costly. I... I tried to tell that to her, but she wouldn't hear it."

Both brothers gave her their full attention. "Who are you talking about? You mean someone other than you attempted human transmutation?" grimly, she gave Al a nod.

"My teacher, Miss Dahlia Brisbane... the only person I had to call my mother." Both boys' eyes widened at the mention of her name.

"Lady Brisbane, the Blossoming Life alchemist...!" Al stage rashly whispered her name. Ed's face held a large amount of surprise towards the name of Sadie's teacher.

"So you're not so much of a brat, afterall. But what do you mean, you tried to tell her otherwise?" Sadie looked out towards the train in pain of what he had continued on.

"I tried to undo what I had inspired. I... I had always wanted another pupil, but not through the method she attempted." she exhaled, hands shaking. "She... tried to make me a 'friend'."

Both Ed and Al looked at each other, nodding, and then to her once again.

"Did she..." Ed trailed off, desperate for an answer. Sadie glenched her teeth, her hands grabbing at the bottom of her white blouse.

"She did not," she spat bitterly, "and what had cost her, was not only all of her limbs, but it... it took off her head and made it its own." Al gasped in shock.

"It what?" he whispered rashly towards her, grabbing both of her arms. 'It acted on its own? But we... ours...' Ed's face fell devoid of all positive emotion. He turned pale.

"So you're saying that the thing she created acted on its own free will and took her apart?" Her teeth still clenched and her bangs covering her eyes, she nodded painfully. What followed was a moment of silence.

Al closed his eyes, trying to overcome the fact that Sadie's teacher had created a successful human transmutation "So that means that this thing... whatever is it, is still out there."

"That's what I'm afraid is true," she answered, taking a shaky breath, "I couldn't stop it. It tried to kill me so I escaped with my life. And here I am now, going to investigate the horror it has most likely caused... That I caused."

Al placed a hand on her shoulder. "You didn't cause anything!" he soothed, but frowned when it did not work as well as he had planned. Ed crossed his arms.

"What Lady Brisbane decided to do was her decision, and hers alone. Even though she wanted to do it for you, it's not your fault."

Tears fell slowly around her face, and down onto her short khaki shorts. Her legs trembling, Al took a hold of her hand.

"We'll find it, and stop it for good. That's something we can both promise to you," he reassured her, and she looked to the both of them, "will you help us?"

Taking in one last deep, shaky breath, she nodded. "We - I have to. It's the only way that I can remove this guilt from my system... and end her suffering."


	5. Handful of horrors

**Hello! Just letting you all know that the next few chapters will be both depressing and negative, but it'll get better, trust me!**

**I'd also really appreciate some reviews once and a while! Even just little comments or tiny tidbits here and there. :)**

**I do not own any aspect of Full Metal Alchemist.**

"Who sent you?"

Fire rolled forward in a violent rage through the ashen air in Mustang's lofty office as he took shelter behind a transmuted wall. Various documents lay strewn across his office, trampled on from time to time by his steps as well as those belonging to the blonde woman leading offensive blasts of air before him.

"I find it surprising that you don't find this form as something along the lines of a weakness, Fuhrer Mustang." His eyes narrowed. "I was so looking forward to the desperate look upon your face." The voice so identical to his assistant's had been so defiled by the fiend who used it.

"You'll have to try harder to find such a weakness within me!"

Mustang shifted himself against the crafted wall so that he had clear vision of the impostor, snapping his fingers to create a rage of bursting flame aimed towards her. Caught by surprise, she shrieked as his flames enveloped her like a cocoon, tearing and searing her flesh. She soon dropped to the ground, the sickening smell of burning flesh wafted through the air. He watched as her blackened corpse sat there, knelt and immobile, before she began to laugh. Mustang's eyes widened and watcher the scorched corpse rose up, the flesh sliding off of her - no, _its_ body to reveal a black skeletal being with red eyes and external teeth.

"Suprised, no?" its hand raised in front of itself gloatingly displaying its clawed, hand-like appendages, which possessed much longer fingers than a human's. Severely disturbed by the mock humanoid before him his eyes narrowed.

'What the hell is this... A homunculus? No,' he snapped his fingers once again at an incredible speed, but once the homonculus-like humanoid had shed its human skin it seemed to have gained an incredible amount of speed. It dodged his attacks one by one by simply jumping aside and out of the way.

'Homunculi have the body of a human that has the ability to regenerate from any damage, but this one... even if I land a hit, it doesn't even seem like I'm damaging it at all!'

Its voice grew an inhuman echo that grimfully accentuated its female-like tone as it laughed at the futile attempt of Mustang's alchemy. "You'll have to do better than that to evoke a response of physical pain from me," it stopped mid scentence and narrowed its eyes, "but I'm done playing. Roy, we have to talk. Enough of this idle chit chat."

With another blast of air that it protruded from its mouth, it shattered the stone wall Mustang held as his only means of shelter. Before he had a chance to react and escape, it darted towards him and pinned him against the wall left of the only large windown in his room. The Fuhrer cried out in pain as the beast's claws, which had enlarged, pinned his arms and body against the wall like some old doll.

"What the hell could something like you possibly want with me?" It gave him a mock smile through its teeth and eyes. It could feel his desperation to escape and his pain from its tight grip grinding into the stone wall.

"I came to deliver a message... and now you seem like you're in a position to be just too happy to listen."

* * *

Falling to her knees in half-dead grass she recognized all too well, suitcase on the ground, Sadie's heart sank at what barely stood before her and the two other teens. Countless buildings, complexes and houses that once stood strong along the old downtown country road of Astet lay either in saddening ashes or in crumpled heaps. Alphonse walked toward her, lifting her back up along with her suitcase and nudged her along in attempt to keep her wits about her. Edward simply stared, mouth slightly agape at the amount of damage that had been done.

The two brothers glanced about the many demolished orcompletely destroyed structures they had known once stood tall, trying to compare their previous memories of the small town as they used to pass by it on their way to Lior. He had remembered a small-scale automail shop somewhere along the lines on the dirt road they tread on, but couldn't differ one scorched or demolished building from another. It concerned him to see such an innocent town to be in such a disgraced state with no trace of life left to tell its tale.

Alphonse left all of the disaster aside and became extremely puzzled by the lack of evidence to support any theory on the cause. The end of the small hamlet had been skillfully executed with little or no evidence to be easily found from those who had disappeared and died. For him, there had been evidence enough in the air hat suffocated his own air. He frowned at the black of the wood of many houses burnt to a crisp, their remaining shadow of a glory even more so faded into black by the dreary, grey sky above. This bloodless massacre seemed all too similar to the ruined disgruntled Xerxes. His disgusted emotions began to release from his system, crushing the small piece of charcoal in his hand.

'This almost seems fresh...'

Sadie watched as it had dirtied his hand so. 'Is he angry?' Shaking her head, she realized what she really needed to investigate.

"Come on, this way. I want for you both to see something."

Looking from the building he had been studying, or lack of one thereof, Ed rose from his kneeling position and nodded towards her. Al held his own squatted position, completely troubled by the scene. Did Sadie leave this all here when she left her hometown, or had she known this had happened?

'No,' he countered himself, 'she looked heartbroken once we entered the village...' His eyes shot up once he heard Sadie call his name, running over towards her and his brother. Al's face bore a disgusted look, and it had pained Sadie, causing her own feelings to grow even more grotesque and unbearable. Could he feel her emotions she had failed to keep locked up within herself? Her throat closing up in hidden agony, she swallowed silently and turned to walk ahead.

"Follow me, please. Both of you."

Ed stared at the half dead grass growing through the dirt road they walked on. The sorry state of the village had stitched his mouth shut. The sight had reinforced his grief for the less unfortunate that had inevitably perished on the ground they tread across. He could feel lit; the same haunting wind blew across the land that had blown across the bloody wastelands of Ishval. He could feel that the girl he teased so tastelessly had witnessed at least as much bloodshed and senseless death as they had. The feeling clawed at his gut and tore at his nerves, but it felt so much more different than the bloodshed he had been used to feeling from underneath central. The sense of bloodshed almost carried a thirst, as well. His forehead wrinkled. Something else was not at ease.

The trio traveled a short distance out of the more used-to-be populated village and towards a valley-like drop in the elevation. The paces of both brothers became stiff and hesitant as they saw a lone house in the middle of the valley carved out like some forgotten faded paradise. Right off the bat Alphonse had recognized the shape and style of the dead vines winding around and through the trees that lined the path to an old, white house. He slid his left hand off of the trees as they passed, feeling the trees' saddened echoes as if they had been calling out to him. Quickly retracting his hand, he saw Sadie shift in her pace to match his slower one.

"My lady had a way with her transmuted plants. They were always so graceful and full of life," she turned slightly to him, "and so happy," not making eye contact but to stare at the trees as they passed them by. "It's no surprise that someone so in touch with their own soul can speak to them in a way that I can."

Negativity aside, Alphonse was thoroughly intrigued by her remark. Ed gave them both a skeptical look. "What do you mean, speak to them? I-"

Sadie smiled sadly towards him. "You felt them, didn't you? Their echoes for help." He exhaled, nodding with an indescribable expression on his face.

"I did feel something, yeah." She walked to his left side and took his hand, making it once again brush along the tree trunks as they passed by. With a second shot he became focused and felt as if the trees and vines evoked sympathy within him. His pace halted as he felt the feelings of one tree. Ed's interest peaked as he saw why.

"This tree, it's mangled. Look at these claw marks," Al stroked his finger across one of the indents, "the cut is strong, just like how Lust's nails cut."

Ed swallowed hard, pointing towards the center of the marks. "Except for this. Look at how they dig in in the middle. Her ultimate spear sliced clean through anything, while these seem a little more dull even though they are still strong." Sadie shook her head, her heart racing. They needed to discover for themselves what had dug its claws into the tree and she needed them to discover it fast. She promptly took his hand, pressing it against the marks once again.

"No, no, Alphonse, feel what the tree says. You need to know what the tree tells you, Al." her voice became distressed as a wash of half paranoia washed over her. Once again she received an undeserved skeptical look from Ed, but he had been so confused as to why both she and his brother were talking to trees. Were they seriously goofing off at a time like this?

Closing his eyes and focusing, he knew that Sadie knew something that they did not. His face tightened as he felt something completely different from the mangled tree. It was almost as if the tree began to lash out towards his intrusion. It cried out, warning him to turn back and run away. It then mixed in another emotion: jealousy. Al felt the tree's envy for his ability to be able to flee from danger. It cursed the fact that it could not have run away from the doom imposed on itself. Retracting his hand, panting from the overexposure to such a strange and alien power. He turned to Sadie with an extremely confused look.

"It... it was afraid, and hurt, and it envied my ability to be able to run away from danger." His eyes carried light bags of stress underneath them as he looked towards his older brother, and then towards the girl beside him. "But how can I be able to..."

"The only thing I can think of is how your body had been sitting in limbo for so long while your soul was still active..." Ed came up with a simple explanation, and then trailed off. His train of thought had some nice tracks, but then derailed. Sadie thought this was the best way to put it.

"Close... It's because of your soul having been attached to something it wasn't supposed to be in control of. Because of the conditions you had to undergo, your soul has adapted to communication of a 'higher sense'." The two brothers couldn't just take this kind of news and be completely okay with it. Their denial had been overcome by awe. Al had evolved, and was able to speak to his biological surroundings with a simple touch. He blinked, staring at his outstretched left hand.

"Wow... cool." Edward's head fell, his mind drifted aside from the emotional/awe-inspiring moment. He pictured himself falling through a mock pit of despair from the light of his dignity from above. His brother's voice matured, he grew taller AND he could talk to trees... and... girls...

Edward's body melted downward towards the ground in a muck of wallowing self-pity, while Sadie and Al picked him back up, nudging him along the path. Shaking his head from all of his inner nonsense, he gave both teens a look of approval of continuing on towards their destination: the white house. Sadie tread in front of them, motioning them to follow.

"Come on, we can discuss this stuff later, after we investigate what we have come here for. This way," her voice was rushed and slightly hushed as the boys answered and followed her down the trail.

Sadie stared up towards the tall, forbidding white house, dominant throughout her childhood memories. The wide window in the attic she had remembered, decorated with light blue curtains and several different vines crawling across the underside of the overhanging roof above was now shattered. What remained of the curtains blew about, tattered, grey and burnt at the edges while several parts of the trim of the window hung, broken, the paint peeling off. The broken glass rested at her feet below, a shadow of what beauty the window held.

Taking in a deep breath, her fists clenched, she studied the rest of the house's condition. The siding seemed untouched in its color save for a few scratches along the left side of the house. The front porch still held countless pots chock full with plants and shoots, yet instead of the thriving, bright green botanical paradise she had remembered, they had long since shriveled. She walked up the stairs, noticing a few broken pots to the left. She had assumed_ it_ had taken a tumble from the left side of the house where the window sat.

Turning towards the door, she glanced towards the mailbox hanging next to the entrance. Sadie extended her hand towards the door, moving to grip the doorknob, but flinched. Al began to walk up to where she stood, hesitant, but Ed held him back gently. He gave his younger brother a look as if to say 'let her do it'.

Sadie moved toward both boys and gave them both a look of fear and anticipation. "Well, let's go inside, then." Ed smiled to boost her confidence.

"Yeah."

She turned the doorknob and watched the door slowly creak open. From what they could see through the open door was a dank, opaque scene. Dead leaves and branches crunched underneath Al's shoes as they walked in and down the front hall. Ed was suprised; it had looked so much smaller, despite its already large size, from the outside. The house's architectural planning was immaculate; the house planned immaculately for the maximum amount of space in each room. Or so they would be thinking, were it not for all of the dying, rotting overgrowth throughout the building.

Al covered his mouth and nose from the rotting stench. "Yuck. What in the world happened here?"

"My house has been uninhabited for quite some time now. The plants had no guidance or nuturing care, and so after their desperate attempt to thrive all over the house, they are perishing," she clapped and hovered her hands over layers of vines covering what looked to be like a glass-paned parlour door and Ed and Al watched as the vines drew back, coming back to life. "It's okay though, I'll make sure that they become ingredients for excellent soil." The many vines bloomed tiny white flowers as she walked through the door and into the parlour.

Both boys were lost for words. With her alchemy she had brought segments of rotting plants back to life with little effort. Without turning to them as she walked through, she knew of their surprise.

"My soul is also an adapted one. I transferred some of my soul into those plants and brought them back to life," Al gasped.

"Y-your soul?" Sadie smiled as she crouched down on the dead vegetation to feel around for something.

"Only a tiny portion, yes."

"But that means that you-" Al's voice cut out after he thought of the possible cause of her almost supernatural alchemy.

"Only for a short period of time," she saw the way that Ed and Al had looked at her, and sensed what they were most likely thinking. "Don't even think about it, either of you."

Ed's face tightened. "Do you know how useful that information is? Souls who have evolved like yours and Al's could save peoples' lives!" Al disliked how worked up his brother was getting over the news. Sadie shot him a warning look.

"This isn't something to play around with, Edward. Small transmutations with plants are safe since the soul returns after the plant thrives. Too many transmutations and you're facing the brinks of death." she spat out her words like venom from a snake. Ed flinched from her scolding.

Taken aback by her lashing out on Ed, she lowered her head.

"Nothing is worth dying over... here," she clapped quickly and revived a section of vines for a second time. The section she brought to life slid away towards the wall, revealing what looked to be an old area rug. "An old entrance to the cellar is under here. That's where I think we should be searching..."

Both brothers helped her pull up the rug to reveal a square segment of the hardwood floor cut out. Sadie slid her fingers in between the gap between the hatch and the floor and raised it up. Underneath were a set of old wooden stairs untouched by any vines. Ed and Al silently followed Sadie down the low narrow staircase. Ed coughed from the stench that easily outmatched the one from the main floor and covered his nose and mouth like his brother had been doing.

"Oh, man, it reeks down here. Not to mention I can't see anything. Let's make this quick so that I don't puke anywhere." Al grimaced with his eyes and looked about the darkness they walked through. He remarked at how large the cellar seemed to be.

"It smells really different down here, but I don't see any-" Al gasped as the wits had been scared out of him from what he'd bumped into.

"What, Al? Did you feel something?" Sadie lit a match and immediately dropped it. From the ceiling hung many dead corpses, either in a skeletal state or possessing small amounts of flesh here and there.

"What the hell is this?" Ed spat out his words in a terrible fright. His throat began to close up and his eyes watered from the stench, causing him to cough excessively at risk of throwing up. Sadie stumbled back and whimpered at the horrible sight. Her eyes remained wide open at the atrocity before her.

"Th-they're everywhere! Oh god, I've never seen so many-!" her voiced wrenched a horrified exhalation while the Elrics heard another.

"Wait! What was that?"

"Did you hear that other noise, Sadie, Ed?"

The dirt underneath them began to vibrate very faintly in a rhythm of footsteps.

"Something other than us is down here."

A ear-piercing shriek wreaked havoc of the three teens from afar and the footstep like vibrations grew closer and more frequent.

"We should _really_ get out of here, brother!"

Snarling then filled their ears followed the sound of bones crushing directly in front of them. Sadie whipped her head around and fell to the ground in agonized fear. It survived.


End file.
